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84 GOLF COURSE MANAGEMENT 08.14
Golfers frequently encounter moveable ob-
structions. So does my oldest daughter. I'm
honestly not sure how she makes it from her
bed to the door each morning with so many
moveable obstructions on the foor. After years
of fghting battle after battle to get her to clean
her room, my wife and I lost the war. A parent
can only fght for so long; after all, there are
more signifcant concerns to worry about when
it comes to raising a teenage daughter.
Moveable obstructions are simply defned
in the Rules as anything artifcial on the golf
course that can be moved. This might include a
piece of trash, an aluminum can or a golf glove.
Rule 24-1 indicates that a player may take relief
from a moveable obstruction without penalty.
The player can move the obstruction regard
-
less of where the ball lies on the golf course,
including in a bunker or water hazard. If the
ball moves when the obstruction is moved, it
must be replaced where it was and there is no
penalty, provided that the movement of the
ball was directly attributable to the removal of
the obstruction.
During junior golf, my son hit a ball that
ended up resting on the seat of a golf cart. In
this case, the cart was a moveable obstruction,
and the ball was lifted and the obstruction re
-
moved. The ball was then dropped as near as
possible to the spot directly under the place
where the ball lay on the cart. At the Open
Championship at Royal St. George's in 1949,
when the Rules did not so clearly defne what
could be done when the ball comes to rest on
a moveable obstruction, Harry Bradshaw, an
Irishman, took a swing at a ball that was sit
-
ting in the bottom half of a broken beer bot-
tle. Don't try that at home. We may complain
about the lengthiness of the Rules, but thank
goodness they have been expanded to defne
the player's options in circumstances such
as these.
The superintendent manages moveable ob
-
structions that often come into play. Stakes
used for water hazards and lateral water haz
-
ards are moveable obstructions; so are bunker
rakes. Hazard stakes and bunker rakes can be
maintenance headaches for the superintendent,
but they're necessary evils. Some superinten
-
dents prefer to just use paint to mark hazards at
the exclusion of stakes to avoid having to move
them when mowing. This, however, does not
allow a golfer to determine what type of hazard
lies at a distance. Rakes left inside bunkers will
interfere when the crew is raking, and those left
outside bunkers usually interfere with mowing.
That said, it's up to the "committee" to decide
where rakes are placed, but the USGA recom
-
mends that they rest outside the bunker, on the
away side, parallel to the line of play.
Several weeks ago, I was looking for my
daughter — I knew she was in the house some
-
where. After calling her name, I heard a faint,
muffed cry for help coming from her bed
-
room. After moving several moveable obstruc-
tions, including towels, blankets and shoes, I
was able to locate her. After the rescue, I saw
a beautiful light green carpet that I forgot was
there. It reminded me of a well-groomed fair
-
way and would have provided an excellent lie.
If I'd found a golf ball, and not my daughter,
I would have pulled out a 4-iron and punched
a low, joyful, glad-those-obstructions-were-
moveable shot out the window. But there was
no need — it was my daughter under those ob
-
structions, and I wasn't playing golf.
Jack Fry, Ph.D., is a professor of turfgrass science and the
director of the Rocky Ford Turfgrass Research Center at
Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. He is a 17-year
educator member of GCSAA.
Jack Fry, Ph.D.
Moveable obstructions
Moveable
obstructions are
simply defned
in the Rules as
anything artifcial on
the golf course that
can be moved.
(through the green)